By Admin 
Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer, after suffering his fifth consecutive defeat in the Indian Premier League with a six-wicket defeat against Mumbai Indians here on Thursday, admitted that he will now have to win the last two do-or-die matches to ensure a place in the knockouts.
The Punjab team was unbeaten after seven matches and was on top but after the fifth consecutive defeat, it is in fourth place with 13 points in 12 matches.
Chasing Punjab’s target of 201 runs, the Mumbai team, which was out of the play-off race, scored 205 runs for four wickets in 19.5 overs with the help of a brilliant half-century from Tilak Verma (75 runs, 33 balls, six fours, six sixes) and an unbroken partnership of 56 runs in 20 balls for the fifth wicket with Will Jacques (25 not out in 10 balls, two fours, two sixes). Recorded victory. Opener Ryan Rickelton (48) also played a good innings. Tilak also added 61 runs for the fourth wicket with Sherfane Rutherford (20).
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Iyer said after the match, “This defeat is difficult to digest. I don’t want to point fingers at any particular situation. This was a great match of cricket. He (Tilak) played a tremendous innings and played according to fielding, so the credit for this goes to him.
Punjab captain Iyer praised Ajmullah Umarzai, who scored 38 runs in 17 balls with two fours and four sixes in the death overs, taking the team’s score to 200 runs for eight wickets.
Iyer said, “At one time it seemed that we would be able to score 170-180 runs but it completely changed the course of the match in our favor. Reaching 200 runs was a commendable performance.” Iyer said that he would have to cement his place in the not out list by winning both the matches.
“We’re definitely excited about the next opportunity,” he said. This is an afternoon match and we have to win both the matches. We are eagerly waiting to play.
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